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Various aspects of English as a foreign language (EFL) education are affected by the adopting of artificial intelligence (AI) tools with both monomodal and multimodal capacities. However, the emotional consequences of AI-mediated second/foreign language (L2) education remain underexplored in the existing literature. To address this gap, the current experimental study drew on the principles of existential positive psychology (EPP) to explore the role of multimodal AI technologies in shaping students’ positive and negative achievement emotions. A total of 82 Iranian EFL students were assigned to a control ( n = 41) and an experimental group ( n = 41) and completed a validated achievement emotions questionnaire a questionnaire twice (pretest and posttest). Students in the experimental group went through a multimodal AI-mediated instructional intervention, while their peers in the control group received conventional teacher-fronted instruction. The results of analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) revealed that multimodal AI-mediated instruction had a statistically significant impact on EFL students’ achievement emotions. Specifically, there were significant improvements in learners’ positive emotions, while their negative emotions significantly decreased after the intervention. Interpreted through an EPP lens, these findings suggest that engagement with multimodal AI technologies may simultaneously foster emotional flourishing and alleviate emotionally adverse experiences in EFL learning contexts. The study foregrounds often-overlooked emotional dimension of AI-mediated L2 education and provides theoretical and pedagogical implications pertaining to multimodal AI adoption by students and teachers in EFL contexts

The aim of the present study was to examine whether Metacognitive Intervention (MI) had any significant effect on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ Working Memory (WM) and if gender had any effect on it. The findings indicated that there was a significant effect on EFL learners’ working memory in listening comprehension after they received MI in L1. It was also found that gender had a significant effect on the EFL learners’ working memory and listening comprehension when they receive MI in L1. The findings might contribute to assist language instructors to adopt strategy-based approaches to teaching listening. Furthermore, curriculum designers and ELT policymakers might consider metacognitive intervention as an effective teaching approach and add it to EFL learners’ curriculum.

The study of EFL in Iran reveals complex challenges faced by both teachers and learners, particularly in fostering learner autonomy. This qualitative study explored the challenges to learner autonomy in the Iranian EFL context through semi-structured interviews with 17 teachers and 13 learners selected through purposive sampling to ensure diverse representation from various educational settings. Thematic analysis using MAXQDA was employed to identify recurrent themes related to the challenges. Findings revealed that both groups face significant obstacles, primarily stemming from curriculum rigidity, which includes prescriptive syllabi, an overemphasis on standardized testing, rote memorization, and severe time constraints. Teachers also reported barriers related to their adherence to traditional teacher-centered approaches, limited understanding of innovative methods, and insufficient professional development, alongside perceiving learners' lack of motivation and passive learning styles as hindrances. Learners, conversely, highlighted the focus of curriculum on memorization, assessment methods prioritizing grammar over practical language use, and a lack of personalized guidance from instructors, compounded by personal struggles with initiative, time management, and cultural influences. The study concludes that comprehensive educational reform is essential, advocating for more flexible curricula, diversified assessment methods, continuous teacher professional development, supportive learning environments, and a cultural shift towards valuing autonomy to enhance student engagement, language proficiency, and lifelong learning.

The present research study examined the distribution of metadiscourse markers, i.e., boosters and hedges, in the introduction section of Journal Citation Reports (JCR) medical research articles. To this end, 30 research articles published in the field of medicine between 2018 and 2024 were chosen on the basis of purposive sampling. Then, the introduction sections of the selected articles were taken into consideration with respect to hedges and boosters. They were analyzed in accordance with Hyland’s (1998) hedge and booster taxonomy. The results of the data analysis revealed that the most frequently utilized kinds of hedges in the corpus consisted of adjectival, adverbial, and nominal modal phrases, modal auxiliary verbs, approximators of degree, quantity, time and frequency, modal lexical verbs, if clauses, introductory phrases, and complex hedges , respectively. In addition, the results of the chi-square test indicated no significant difference between the frequency of hedges and boosters in the introduction section of medical articles.

This study investigates an integrated model linking Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ epistemological belief, metacognitive awareness, critical thinking abilities, and their professional development. Using a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach, the research tests a hypothesized model in which epistemological beliefs and metacognitive awareness predict critical thinking, which in turn mediates their relationships with professional development. Data were collected from 150 Iranian EFL teachers using some validated instruments. After assessing the measurement model, SEM was employed to test the direct and indirect pathways. The results supported the hypothesized model, revealing that critical thinking skills significantly mediated the relationship between epistemological beliefs and professional development. Furthermore, metacognitive awareness demonstrated both a direct effect on professional development and an indirect effect through critical thinking. The findings underscore the importance of fostering metacognitive and critical thinking skills in EFL teachers to enhance their professional growth. This study contributes to the literature by elucidating the cognitive mechanisms underlying teacher development, offering practical implications for designing teacher education and professional development programs in Iran and similar contexts.

This study aimed to examine the frequency of reading strategy use among EFL high school students and the relationship between their strategy use and reading comprehension achievement. The research sample consisted of 328 EFL students from four high schools in Central Vietnam. Data collection was carried out using three primary instruments: a questionnaire, follow-up interviews, and two reading comprehension tests. The findings revealed that most participants expressed a generally positive attitude toward the use of reading strategies. However, their actual use of these strategies was found to be limited during the reading process. Moreover, the study identified a significant correlation between the frequency of reading strategy use and students’ reading performance: students who employed reading strategies more frequently achieved higher reading scores. Based on these findings, several pedagogical implications were proposed for both EFL students and teachers, aimed at enhancing the teaching and learning of reading skills in EFL contexts

Transfer of learning from English course to other contexts is one of the most fundamental objectives of English for Special Academic Purposes (ESAP) instruction. Providing opportunities to transfer the acquired knowledge from the ESAP writing course to writing tasks of specialized disciplines as well as analyzing students’ perceptions of transfer catalysts and barriers might suggest a foundation for future educational planning. This study examines how engineering graduate students who participated in an ESAP course assessed the four constructs of learning transfer inventory that might facilitate or inhibit the transfer of learning in discipline-specific academic writing programs. Sixty engineering graduate students participated in this study. During the ESAP course, collaboratively designed discipline-specific writing tasks were presented and practiced through multimodal input. The variation in participants’ writing skills throughout the semester was recorded and analyzed. The catalysts and the barriers to the learning transfer act were identified by administering the Learning Transfer System Inventory (LTSI). The participants’ evaluations of the treatment they had received was assessed through a focus group interview. Results indicated that the students could obtain significant levels of academic writing skills and finally transfer their acquired instruction to authentic discipline practices. Furthermore, data analysis of the LTSI demonstrated that transfer of writing outcomes will be increased if more consideration of work-related factors is considered in higher education. All participants reported personal capacity as the main impediment induced by the work-related construct. Students’ positive attitudes toward three ability factors and all motivational factors suggested that an auspicious foundation for future educational planning exists if disciplinary and institutional considerations are embraced.

The increasing ubiquity and impact of audiovisual content has turned it into one of the primary objects of study in a number of disciplines in humanities, including Translation Studies. In the recent decade, audiovisual translation (AVT) has been a thriving research focus in many parts of the world. This article aims at mapping AVT in the context of Iran by reviewing the published Persian AVT research worldwide. The article is organized into two parts: the first part provides an overview of the main research articles, delineating the main research trends in AVT research in Iran. The second part presents and discusses research gaps and areas that merit further scholarly attention by academia. The article concludes that research on the topic in Iran is still in a fairly early stage, with the studies focusing mainly on the dubbing and subtitling of audiovisual products. Particularly, accessibility research in the context of (non-)interactive audiovisual products is yet to attract focused attention. Certain areas are highlighted and recommended for future research

Academic discourse is the collaborative interaction within academic communities, primarily aimed at convincing readers that the writers' arguments are valid. Despite the fact that nouns are frequently used in academic writing, the rhetorical functions of nouns have received limited attention in academic writing analysis. This research sets out to: (1) investigate the frequency of Metadiscursive Nouns (MNs) in Iranian scholars' research articles, and (2) compare MN usage across academic disciplines and genders. In this corpus-based study, 40 articles from the fields of Applied Linguistics, Psychology, Medicine, and Chemistry were carefully selected and analyzed based on Jiang and Hyland's (2016) MNs taxonomy. Chi-square analyses revealed significant differences across disciplines and genders, with generally weak effect sizes. The findings revealed gender-based disparities, with male scholars using MNs more frequently in soft disciplines (78.4%) compared to female scholars (69.6%), while female scholars (30.4%) exceeded male researchers (21.6%) in MN usage in hard disciplines. The results also indicated that MN usage differed significantly across disciplines, with the highest frequencies observed in Linguistics and Psychology, despite the relatively small effect size. This research underscores the impact of disciplinary norms and gender on MNs' selection and usage in academic writing, providing valuable insights for teaching academic writing skills, developing instructional materials, and conducting academic discourse analysis.

Although several studies have examined the effectiveness of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools in enhancing L2 speaking , it remains unclear whether learners with low and high levels of anxiety benefit similarly from AI-based instruction. The present study examined the extent to which learners with varying levels of anxiety, specifically high and low, benefit from an AI-based speaking assistant, Character AI. This r esearch involved 30 intermediate EFL learners from a language institute, who were identified and labeled as high -anxiety (HA) and low-anxiety (LA) groups based on their anxiety scores. Following a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design, the initial phase involved administering the Oxford Placement Test (OPT) to determine participants' language proficiency, followed by a pre-test that served as a benchmark of their speaking proficiency before exposure to the Character AI app. Over the course of the study, participants engaged with Character AI for speaking practice and feedback. The results showed that Character AI-based support was beneficial for promoting FL speaking by fostering enhanced interaction and oral communication. It was also observed that learners with lower initial anxiety levels demonstrated greater improvements in speaking, implying that anxiety may moderate the benefits of AI-driven educational technologies. The qualitative findings underscore the potential of AI technologies as robust tools in L2 speaking, facilitating personalized, interactive, and learner-centric learning experiences. The present outcomes provide substantial insights into the interactions between psychological factors, technological integration, and language acquisition within the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) framework.

Dans l’analyse narratologique inspirée de Gérard Genette, l’instance narratrice désigne la voix qui raconte. Les romans de Milan Kundera, tels que La Plaisanterie et L’Insoutenable légèreté de l’être, illustrent deux formes très différentes de cette instance, qui traduisent l’évolution de l’art romanesque de cet auteur tchèque et sa conception philosophique du récit. Dans La Plaisanterie, la narration est polyphonique ; quatre narrateurs-personnages racontent tour à tour leur vécu. Chacun est un narrateur intradiégétique et homodiégétique, offrant une focalisation interne propre. Cette multiplicité détruit la voix unique du narrateur omniscient et fait du récit un ensemble de perspectives subjectives où se construit la vérité. Dans L’Insoutenable légèreté de l’être, Kundera adopte une voix extradiégétique, souvent confondue avec celle de l’auteur. Le narrateur intervient, commente et interroge ses personnages, créant une métalepsie qui relie le plan de la fiction à celui de la réflexion philosophique. Selon la perspective genettienne, Kundera déplace la fonction de l’instance narratrice, de la pluralité homodiégétique de La Plaisanterie à la voix extradiégétique et métanarrative de L’Insoutenable légèreté de l’être. Dans les deux cas, la narration n’est pas une imitation du réel mais un laboratoire d’expérimentation existentielle. Ainsi, selon la perception de Genette, Kundera transforme la narration en un instrument de pensée : l’instance narratrice devient l’espace où le roman expérimente le « champs des possibilités humaines ».

his study investigated the construct validity and measurement invariance of the Teacher Emotion Questionnaire to introduce a valid and reliable instrument for assessing English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) teachers’ emotions inside the classroom. Second language (L2) teacher emotions have been largely neglected, despite the fact that Educational Psychology has long recognized and researched the role of teacher emotions in different aspects of teaching and learning. To bridge this gap, the current study had 208 Iranian EFL teachers in private language institutes fill out the Teacher Emotion Questionnaire (TEQ), which assessed six emotions teachers experience in their classroom, i.e., Joy, Pride, Love, Anger, Fatigue/Exhaustion, and Hopelessness. The preliminary analysis of the data showed that six items from the TEQ had a factor loading below the minimum recommended level of 0.3, meaning that they contributed to the total variance in the participants’ score less than expected. The collected data were then submitted to confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) for the purpose of construct validation and establishment of the factorial structure of the TEQ. The CFA results indicated that the hypothesized six-factor analysis had more favorable goodness-of-fit indices than both a one-factor structure and a two-factor structure (e.g., positive versus negative emotions). Multilevel CFA revealed that the tested six-factor structure of the TEQ was invariant across male and female EFL teachers. The implications for the use of TEQ in EFL teaching contexts are discussed, and some suggestions are proposed for further validation of the TEQ in language teaching contexts.